


Pest Control

by soleander, zhenger



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon Related, Canon Relationships, Canon-Typical Violence, Fanart, Gen, Illustrated, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-01
Updated: 2015-08-18
Packaged: 2018-04-12 11:35:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4477775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soleander/pseuds/soleander, https://archiveofourown.org/users/zhenger/pseuds/zhenger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“This can’t… be possible.” Pearl says, arms trembling as they bracket the main tracking screen of the Rebellion’s old surveillance equipment. Standing in her room’s lowest tier, she is lit up by the equipment’s wall of smaller monitors, the harsh glow of each screen clashing with the room’s soft, pale pink light. </p><p>Each monitor transmits a live feed of all active warp pads. Each one is marked by a red dot idly blinking on the tracking screen. </p><p>Just two minutes ago, there were 46 red dots.</p><p>Now, there’s 47.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Corrupted Gems

**Author's Note:**

> I dedicate this to the wonderful [gooselycharm](http://gooselycharm.tumblr.com/) aka [soleander](http://archiveofourown.org/users/soleander), who has tirelessly helped me plot, proof-read, and cheer me on as I tackle this to-be 10-part series over long message threads on Skype. This chapter is now updated with their beautiful illustration!
> 
> Find me on tumblr [here](http://thezhenger.tumblr.com/)!

“This can’t… be possible.” Pearl says, arms trembling as they bracket the main tracking screen of the Rebellion’s old surveillance equipment. Standing in her room’s lowest tier, she is lit up by the equipment’s wall of smaller monitors, the harsh glow of each screen clashing with the room’s soft, pale pink light.

Each monitor transmits a live feed of all active warp pads. Each one is marked by a red dot idly blinking on the tracking screen.

Just two minutes ago, there were 46 red dots.

Now, there’s 47.  

“I just don’t get it. The number hasn’t changed by itself in _eons!_ Something’s wrong.” Pearl mutters to herself. She taps on the new GPS point, typing in the coordinates before dragging the image up towards rest of the monitors. A fuzz of static, and then, a lone, cracked warp pad, long registered in the system as defunct, flickers onscreen.

Pearl gasps as a pillar of light shoots out of the warp pad.

Two yellow translucent wings lash out of the glow. A dark, armored, three-parted segmented body is suspended by them. Six spindly legs protrude from its abdomen, striped black and a sickly lime green. A long proboscis dangles menacingly from a round head.

But what makes sweat slide down Pearl’s gem is when she sees the glitter of a single amber rock where its eyes should be.

A corrupted gem.

The warp pad glows again. And again. And again. More and more and more of them emerge from the light, swarming until they blacken the warp pad with flecks of black and green.

 

 

“H-how can this be happening?” She shrieks, before tearing herself away from the screens. The Crystal Gems needed to get there, and fast.  

Pearl frantically grabs the warp whistle and plays an unsteady, sour note. The sound resonates through the Crystal temple. Pearl prepares herself for the worst. She turns and desperately brings up a portrait of Rose Quartz out of the water, painting lit up by the glare of the monitors.

“Oh, Rose. What’s happening now?"

The glow of the room’s warp pad snaps Pearl out of her trance.

“Ooh boy, that doesn’t look good.” Amethyst says with a yawn, sloshing through the fountain’s lilac water.

“Pearl. What’s the matter?” Garnet says, stepping off the warp pad. She takes one look at the monitor and stops in her tracks.

“Yeah, Pearl, what’s going—ooff!” Steven muffles, walking straight into Garnet’s leg.

“Garnet! Thank goodness you’re here!” Pearl says, grabbing onto Garnet’s frozen arm. “Please tell me this isn’t what I think it is. Do you think they were created by Homeworld?”

Garnet walks towards the monitors, dragging Pearl with her. She settles in front of the screens. The feed reflects off her visors. “They’re Flysquitos. They’re going to destroy us.” Garnet states. She clenches her fists and gauntlets settle on her hands. “We need stop them.”

“Wait, what? Are you serious?” Amethyst says, joining Garnet and gesturing up at the monitor. “These little guys?”

“That true, Garnet? They just look like regular ol’ mosquitos to me.”  

“Steven, you’re staying right here.” Pearl says, “Garnet, Amethyst, and I will take care of this.”

“Aww, what?” Steven pouts, stamping the ground with a splash, giving both Pearl and Garnet puppy-dog stares. “You’ve let me come on missions before! I mean, I’ve even got my shield under control now… kind of! I can-“

“No.” Garnet says, firmly. “You are staying here.”

“It’s for the best.” Pearl adds.

“Yeah, Steven. I dunno, but you’re just not… cool enough to come with us this time.” Amethyst says. “Maybe when you’re taller than… this!” Laughing, she shapeshifts into a purple giraffe and splatters Pearl with water, before trotting over to nibble at Steven’s hair.

“Amethyst!” Pearl says, admonishing. In response, Amethyst flips Steven up onto her head by his t-shirt.

“This is no time for games.” Garnet says, moving onto the warp pad.

“Ugh, fine.” Amethyst says, shrinking back down and sending Steven tumbling down after her. “I’m coming, I’m coming.”

“You can watch us from here, Steven.” Pearl says, pointing at the monitor where the cloud of flysquitoes are hovering menacingly. She pulls out a light pink, tall-backed armchair out of the fountain and pushes it towards the monitors. “I’ve connected the monitor to my gem, so you can talk to me too. Now, if there’s any sign of trouble whatsoever—“

“—I can come help you guys?” Steven says, hopefully.

“No!” Pearl screeches, before taking a deep breath. “Sorry about that. Steven, I—“

“Pearl! Let’s go.” Garnet says. Pearl joins the other Crystal Gems on the warp pad.

Amethyst waves goodbye, smirking as she mouths “ _not cool enough_ ”, before the three of them are whisked away by a beam of light.   

Steven grumbles as he sulkily sits on the chair facing the wall of monitors. He traces his fingers over the embroidered pink roses on the armrests. The picture on the screen changes, the feed momentarily engulfed in a teal light. Steven swivels his chair back and forth and plays with a few buttons, before turning back to the portrait of Rose Quartz.

“This is cool too, right, mom?”

* * *

 

As soon as the Crystal Gems arrive on the 47th warp pad, a horrifying cacophony of buzzing screeches through the speakers. The cloud of flysquitoes are alerted all at once, turning in robotic unison towards Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. There is a brief pause.

Then they swarm.

“Watch out—“ Steven says, yelling at the monitor. A flysquito dives towards Garnet with deadly accuracy, straight for her gauntlets.

“Garnet, above you!” Pearl says, voice crackling through the speaker system as she spears a flysquito. 

Garnet cleanly smacks it down with a full body spin, punching the flysquito coming towards her fists and sending another one crashing down with a well-aimed kick. They both explode into plumes of dust, momentarily fuzzing out the screen. The camera view blurs and shakes as Pearl pirouettes into the air, slashing three flysquitoes down with brutal accuracy. 

“So cool!” Steven pumps his fist.  

“Woah, mama!” Amethyst yells off-screen, and Steven hears the lash of her whip crack through the air. “Where are they even coming from?”

“Ugh, disgusting.” Pearl says, gagging. “The smell is just— _aaagh_!” A flysquito slams into Pearl -- the camera flickers from the impact before focusing on her arms struggling to push away the flysquito with the length of her spear, the monster’s limbs flailing wildly and proboscis snapping viciously at Pearl’s forehead.

“Yikes! Pearl, are you okay?” Steven asks, voice cracking, but Pearl’s too busy struggling with the flysquito to reply.

“There’s too many.” Garnet grits out. The camera view turns shakily to catch Garnet with her two arms braced in front of her face, heels dug into the ground as five flysquitoes push her backwards.

“I gotcha, Garnet!” Amethyst yells, and Steven sees a blur of a lilac mane at the corner of the monitor, a blurry strip of black and purple curled up, ready to slash downward—

 “Amethyst!” Garnet warns, but a flysquito from the pack takes an opportunity to break away. It lunges towards Amethyst, and her unprotected gem. The proboscis stabs forward—

It pierces clean through Amethyst’s gem.

Steven sees the three cracks in the gem briefly glow a faint yellow as Amethyst disappears in a cloud of smoke. Her gemstone falls to the ground.

“Amethyst, no!” Steven screams. He quickly turns to the portrait of Rose and makes up his mind. A pink shield unfurls in petals from the gem on his belly. “Pearl, Amethyst, Garnet, hold on! I’m coming!”

Pearl gasps. “Steven, you can’t—“

“I’m a crystal gem too!” Steven says, running towards the warp pad, shield grasped tightly in his hand.

The column of light drops him down on the cracked warp pad, and a determined flysquito plunges towards him.

“Hyyaaaaah!” Steven cries out, batting the flysquito out of the air with a thunk. “I’m coming for you, Pearl!” He stumbles down the warp pad steps before holding up his shield in front of his face, barreling through the cloud of flysquitoes. He knocks away the flysquito pinning Pearl down and tumbles into a defensive ball before getting up onto his feet. “Yeah!”

“Wow, Steven—“ Pearl interrupts herself to slash down another flysquito before pulling another spear out of her gem. She twirls both spears in each hand, and takes down three more in a quick one-two movement. “You’re really getting used to that shield!”

“Aww, thanks Pearl!”

“We have to get to Garnet, or else--” Pearl stops herself, instead moving towards Garnet, slicing flysquitoes out of her way. Steven throws his shield at the group of flysquitoes swarming on Garnet, and dislodges two. Pearl stabs another one, giving Garnet a chance to uppercut the last two. All five flysquitoes explode into dust, but another cluster of ten comes flying towards them. “What do we do now?” Pearl says, “They just keep on coming!”

“We come back later.” Garnet says, stooping down and bubbling Amethyst’s gem. Steven goes over to Garnet and stares at Amethyst’s gem. Sure, there were a few cracks, but a visit to his mom’s fountain would make things as good as new!

“What? We can’t do that! What if they escape? What if they attack us? What if—“ Pearl babbles.

“More trouble.” Garnet says, turning and pointing towards a fluorescent lime green hand shooting right towards them.   

“Oh no… Oh gosh, this can’t be h-happening right now! Garnet, everything’s going to be okay, right?” Pearl pleads. Garnet simply punches a bolder flysquito out of the air. The rest of the flysquitoes seem captivated by the glowing light emitting from the Homeworld gems' ship, and slowly begin hovering towards it.

“Oh man, they’re coming closer!” Steven says, before moving in front of both Garnet and Pearl.

“Steven, no! Just what do you think you’re doing?” Pearl frets, grabbing onto Steven’s shoulder, “Get behind us! They might--”

“If they’re gonna to shoot us a second time with their giant laser thing, well, I protected us once, I can do it again!” Steven says, sticking out his chest and spreading his arms as wide as he can.

“Steven…”

The ship leisurely decelerates, opening its fingers slowly as it nears Garnet, Pearl, and Steven. The flysquitoes flock towards the palm of the hand, gathering where the light is the brightest.

“Here they come…” Steven says, bracing himself. “We’re not scared of you!”  

The sound of speakers flicking on reverberates through the air.

“Today, it’s not about you.” Peridot’s voice says. “Looks like one of your friends has gotten hurt. I almost feel… _sorry_ for you all. But what can you expect from some inferior, disposable gem made out of this horrid human soil?”

“You take that back!” Steven yells, but Peridot merely cackles until the microphone screeches from reverb.

“Uh, that wasn’t supposed to be on. Anyway,” Peridot clears her throat dramatically, but before she can continue, there’s a scuffling in the background as Peridot yelps and grumbles.

The green hand clamps shut into a fist on a handful of flysquitoes.

“Next time, you’ll be crushed!” Jasper says into the mic.

“Ugh.” Peridot says.

The green hand abruptly turns around and blasts away.

“Huh.” Steven says. “That wasn’t as bad as I thought that was gonna be!”

“’Till next time.” Garnet says, and walks back to the warp pad, with Steven following close behind.    

“Oh, ah, Garnet, Steven, wait for me!” 


	2. Water Damage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Amethyst needs to be more careful.” Pearl says, looking at the cracked gem, “Rose’s fountain isn’t some sort of a—a human buffet, where you can take what you want and leave! Her fountain’s loving, curing ichor cannot be _disgraced_ like this—”
> 
> “Pearl. Rose would want it to be this way.” Garnet says, walking towards the warp pad. Pearl sighs.
> 
> “I know… It’s just—it’s hard.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dedicated to the wonderful [gooselycharm](http://gooselycharm.tumblr.com/) aka [soleander](http://archiveofourown.org/users/soleander). Make sure to follow them and check back on this chapter, when it is updated with their illustration!
> 
> Find me on tumblr [here](http://thezhenger.tumblr.com/)!

“Wake up, sleepy-head.”

“Huh?” Steven mumbles, rubbing his eyes. A large, blurry square slowly comes into focus. “Oh hey, Garnet!” Steven sits up and stretches. Pearl sits perched at the edge of his bed.

“Steven! Thank goodness you’re awake. You were making this face and tossing and turning a-and touching your gem, I thought—” Garnet places her hand firmly on Pearl’s shoulder.

“We’re going to Rose’s fountain. To heal Amethyst.” Garnet holds up her hand; Amethyst’s bubbled gem floats gently above her palm.

“Alright!” Steven cheers, getting out of bed and changing into his star T-shirt and jeans.

“Amethyst needs to be more careful.” Pearl says, looking at the cracked gem, “Rose’s fountain isn’t some sort of a—a human buffet, where you can take what you want and leave! Her fountain’s loving, curing ichor cannot be _disgraced_ like this—”

“Pearl. Rose would want it to be this way.” Garnet says, walking towards the warp pad. Pearl sighs.

“I know… It’s just—it’s hard.” 

“Oh, wait!” Steven says, scrambling down the stairs towards the kitchen. “I’m gonna make Amethyst a sandwich!”

* * *

 

Bubbled by Garnet, Amethyst’s gem bobs gently as the warp pad’s stream of light teleports Steven, Pearl, Garnet, and a zip-locked ham sandwich.

“I hope Amethyst’s okay.” Steven says, peering inside the bubble. Three sizeable cracks mark the deep purple gem, sending uneven, scattered reflections along its surface, but they otherwise haven’t grown any larger.

“Oh, please. Steven, this isn’t the first time she’s gotten herself into this situation. Honestly.” Pearl says with a huff, but softens her glare when she sees Steven’s watery eyes. “I’m worried too.” 

The light dissipates, revealing Rose’s fountain in the distance. Garnet calmly walks towards it, sidestepping leftover stalks of thorny bramble. 

“They’re growing back… again…” Pearl says shakily, pulling her spear out of her gem and clutching it tightly in her two hands. “It’s okay, Garnet. T-they don’t know any better. Horrible—“

“C’mon, Pearl!” Steven says cheerily, holding the ham sandwich in one hand and taking Pearl’s hand in the other, “Let’s go to mom’s fountain!”

“Oh, alright.” Pearl says tentatively, with a little smile, dropping her spear and letting herself get dragged along with him.

“So, Pearl… y’think if I had a fountain, the water’d be coming out of my mouth instead of my eyes?” Steven asks, and Pearl splutters. “Yeah, like that!”

They catch up to Garnet, and the three pass underneath the star-shaped archway and climb down the stairs into the fountain’s basin.

The pink marble of the fountain glistens with moisture, water drops hanging from Rose’s central sculpture like dew. Steady streams of water flow from the sculpture’s eyes, overflowing into the scooped basin of the fountain.

“Oh, you never forget how beautiful this place is.” Pearl says, resting her arms and head on a seated Rose Quartz figure.  

Garnet holds out Amethyst’s gem above the pool. Steven scurries next to Garnet, and watches as she drops the gem. The bubble around the gem pops once it hits the healing water, sending ripples across the surface.

“Woah…” Steve says, kneeling at the lip of the fountain and watching as Amethyst’s gem sinks under the surface, the cracks glowing a light pink as they close up. “Ooh, ooh! She’s regenerating!” Steven points at Amethyst’s gem as it’s engulfed in a bright, lilac light, the glow forming into a curled up, humanoid shape as it grows. An illuminated mane of hair flips out from its head as Amethyst’s silhouette stands up, revealing her gem. She opens her arms wide.

They morph into claws.

“Steven, get out of there, now!” Garnet yells.

“Huh?” Steven says, as Garnet yanks him away from the edge of the fountain, pushing him back with a gauntleted hand. “A-amethyst?”

“Oh no.” Pearl whispers, stock-still as Amethyst’s form mutates uncontrollably. “Oh, no.” Thick, arachnid legs shoot from Amethyst’s sides as a thorny, segmented tail forms, the end bloating out into a hooked stinger. The monster crashes down onto its legs, sending fountain water flooding out in powerful waves from the impact. Steven cries out as the water slams into him, washing him further back from the fountain.

The light from the form fades away, revealing the black and purple creature, pinchers snapping viciously. Eight beady eyes fix themselves on the petrified form of Pearl, still frozen over a Rose’s figure.

Its clawed maw opens and unleashes a horrific roar.   

“Pearl!” Garnet shouts, pushing Pearl out of the way. The stinger stabs forward and misses, shattering one of the four sitting sculptures. The tail rears back and severs the placid statue of Rose Quartz in half, chunks of rock breaking the fountain's petal tiers as her body comes crashing down.

Rose Quartz’ head comes tumbling to a stop at Pearl’s feet, tear tracks still slowly dripping down its cheeks.

"Rose!" Pearl shrieks, before pulling out two spears from her gem. She runs towards the monster, tears welling up in her eyes as she screams, "You'll pay for this, you, _you_ \--"

"No! Don't hurt her!" Steven calls out, and Pearl stops, quivering in rage.

"That _thing_ destroyed the fountain! It destroyed what Rose held most dear..." Pearl says, voice breaking.

"She's Amethyst!" Steven says. “Let me talk to her!”

“Steven, that’s not possible.” Pearl calls out. “It— it isn’t Amethyst anymore!”

“Centipeedle understood me. I can do this!” Steven says, running back towards the fountain. “Amethyst, it’s me, Steven!”

Alerted by his voice, the monster turns towards Steven, dragging its body through the wreckage of the fountain, displaced water seeping through cracks in the ground. Its tail curls up as it lumbers towards Steven, poised to strike.

“No!” Pearl shouts, diving towards the beast and striking a joint of a hairy leg. The beast screeches in pain before swinging back towards Pearl and slashing at her with a pincher. She blocks the attack, crossing the two spears in front of her as the claw collides into them. It howls again, clamping the claw down onto the spears and throwing Pearl aside. She slams into the ground and rolls to a stop with a grunt.

“Amethyst, no!” Steven says, his lip quivering. The monster hisses, stalking towards Pearl’s prone body. “I know you’re in there. It’s Steven!” It continues crawling towards Pearl, tail curling up, the tip glinting with venom. Steven spots a broken off piece of the fountain and grabs it.

“I’m sorry, Amethyst.” He says, before throwing the chunk of marble at the creature. It bounces off the tail. The beast turns around, screeching at Steven, before barreling towards him.

“Stop!” Steven shouts, but the monster continues charging towards him, its tail lashing back and forth as rocks fly off in different directions. “This isn’t you!”

It brings a claw down, and Steven crosses his hands over his head protectively.

A crash.

Steven slowly opens his eyes.   

Eight eyes stare curiously back at him.

The creature slowly pulls its claw off of Steven's shield, backing away from him. It inspects itself in the reflective pink surface, growling quietly.  

“Yeah, that’s it.” Steven says, stepping forward, still holding the shield up, “C’mon, Amethyst.”

It slowly reaches out a claw and taps its reflection. Eight small shields reflect back in its black eyes. It slowly traces the white swirls of the shield until the tip of the pincher reaches the Rose Quartz gem design in the center, and it pauses, before bringing its eyes back to Steven’s.

“Oh!” Steven exclaims, and the beast startles, but he continues before it can pull away, “Wait, wait, hold on.” He pulls out the squished sandwich from his back pocket. “You wanna sandwich? I made it for you!” He grumbles as he struggles to take it out of the plastic baggie with his free hand. “Just give me _one_ minute.”    

“Good work, Steven!” Garnet says from above. Steven looks up and spots two specks in the sky. One was Garnet, and the other— “Stand back!”

Garnet throws a massive boulder into the head of the monster.

With a weak squeal, the creature collapses and explodes into a cloud of purple dust. Steven gasps, ducking behind his shield as small rocks bounce off of it. Garnet lands next to Steven with a thump, picking up the purple gem off the ground and bubbling it up.  

“Aw, Garnet, I wasn’t able to give her the sandwich!” Steven pouts, with the now completely squashed sandwich in his hand. He turns his attention to back to Amethyst’s gem, before looking worriedly up at Garnet. “Hey, is Amethyst gonna be okay?”

Garnet turns to him, bubbled gem in hand. "She can take a hit."     


End file.
